Typically, a passenger compartment of a vehicle is cooled by a cooling system wherein a flow of air is directed through a heat exchanger to cool the air prior to flowing into the passenger compartment. In the heat exchanger, energy is transferred between the air and a coolant such as a water-glycol coolant, for example.
The air is normally supplied from ambient air or a mixture of air re-circulated from the passenger compartment and ambient air.
In other cooling systems for the passenger compartment of the vehicle, a thermoelectric device is used to cool the air to a desired temperature prior to the air flowing into the passenger compartment. The thermoelectric device includes a hot side and a cold side. The cold side of the thermoelectric device is in communication with the air flowing into the passenger compartment. A cooling efficiency of the thermoelectric device decreases as a difference in temperature between the hot side and the cold side thereof increases.
It would be desirable to produce a cooling system for a vehicle including a thermoelectric device wherein a difference in temperature between a hot side and a cold side of the thermoelectric device is minimized and an efficiency of the thermoelectric device is maximized.